A Moment to Remember on The Somme

Over the years some people have questioned remembrance, and the wearing of a poppy, saying we are Glorifying War

To us all it is worth remembering that Remembrance Sunday and Armistice Day, are not about war but the people who fought in war and paid the ultimate sacrifice, or were so badly injured there wounds haunted them year in year out for the rest of their lives, often fading as crippled and broken men.

Grave of Captain JL Green VC

Such thoughts came to mind last year, when the morning after Remembrance Sunday found me on The Somme battlefield, in Northern France; an eighteen mile front so well written in British history.

My first stop that morning was for an old friend one I had visited a number of times, an old friend who died on 1st July 1916, The First Day on The Somme. But he was not a soldier. Captain John Green was a doctor.

On that morning he was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest award for valour in the face of the enemy. His award was for going into no-man’s land and rescuing an officer who was caught on barbed wire and unable to free himself.

That morning John Green untangled him and managed to drag him to a nearby shell hole where he dressed his wounds, despite the torrent of rifle and shell fire all around him. After dressing his wounds he continued to drag him back across no-man’s land to the safety of his own trenches and nearly succeeded in doing so when he was killed. John Green now rests in the corner of the cemetery under the shade of a tree.

I had my moment of Remembrance as I left a Poppy Cross by his grave and had my own two minutes silence stood by him, as I did thoughts of his brave actions and that moment of humanity in what must have been absolute horrific conditions were in my mind, not about war, but the people who paid the ultimate sacrifice in war.

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The events of the early days of The Battle of The Somme are well recorded; in fact to read many articles & reports you would think The Somme was a defeat for the British and her Commonwealth armies. But this is not the case, it was a victory! All to… Read more… →

With the fast transport system, from England to France and Belgium, it is now so easy to visit the battlefields of The Western Front from World War One. Nevertheless, it is also easy to forget that so many Commonwealth Countries sent soldiers who fought there, even today it is not… Read more… →

Walking battlefields can be very memorable, as can the many people we meet doing so; one such person is Nick Ragland, who we recently took on a battlefield tour of France and Belgium. Nick, a retired United States Marine Corps Captain and a veteran of the Vietnam War back in… Read more… →

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